Why does Naval Ravikant say: "Find work you love, and combine it with leverage, that's the path to wealth"?

Hey, that's an excellent question! This quote from Naval really captures the essence of his philosophy on wealth. Let me break it down in plain language so it's crystal clear.

We'll split the quote into two parts: "Find work you love" and "Combine that with leverage".

Part 1: Why "Find Work You Love"?

You might think this sounds like clichéd advice—like "follow your passion." But Naval's point goes much deeper.

The "love" he talks about isn't a fleeting interest, changing with the wind. It's more like "something you're genuinely obsessed with—an activity that feels like play to you, but looks like work to others."

For example:

A gamer can play for 16 hours straight without feeling tired because they're "playing."
A programmer spends their weekend building a tool to solve a personal frustration, genuinely enjoying the process—that's "play" too.

If you can find such an activity and turn it into your career, what happens?

You'll outlast everyone else. While others see work as torture and overtime as suffering, you're truly enjoying yourself. You naturally pour hours into deep exploration—others work overtime because they have to; you do it driven by curiosity. Do this for five or ten years, and becoming an expert is inevitable.
Your passion shines through. Because your interest is genuine—not an act or just about money—your work and service carry an aura of authenticity. People can feel it.
It gets you through the hard times. Starting any venture is usually unprofitable and often painful. If money were the only motive, you'd quit early. But because you love it, you persist for the love itself.

In short: This step is the foundation. It ensures your "input" is sustainable, high-quality, and completely voluntary. Without it, leverage is impossible—you lack "something worthwhile" to amplify.

Part 2: What is "Leverage"?

The word "leverage" might sound technical, but it simply means "using less effort to achieve more." It's a tool that magnifies the results of your effort.

Imagine trying to lift a huge boulder. With just your hands, it won't budge even if you push with all your might. But give yourself a long metal rod (a lever), and a slight press lifts the stone. Your strength didn't change, but the rod amplified its impact.

In the context of wealth, Naval identifies three main types of leverage:

Labor Leverage: This is the oldest form. It means being an employer—hiring others. Your decisions impact the output of 10, 100, or 1000 employees, multiplying your results. But this leverage is messy: managing people is mentally taxing and has high communication costs.
Capital Leverage: Using money to make money. Investing $1 million or starting a company to use capital to access larger resources. This leverage is extremely powerful but has a high barrier: you need capital first. It's hard for most people to start.
The New Leverage: Code and Media This is Naval's most recommended type and the greatest opportunity for ordinary people in our era!
- What are code and media?
  - Code: Writing software, building an app, creating a website.
  - Media: Writing articles, recording podcasts, making videos, producing art.
- Why is this new leverage so powerful?
  It possesses a magical property called "zero marginal cost of reproduction."
- Confused? Let's compare examples:
  - If you're a chef (without leverage): Making and selling one bread takes 1 hour and costs $5. Selling to a second customer requires another hour and $5. Your time and output are directly linked.
  - If you're a programmer (using code leverage): You spend one month creating an app. The first download costs effort. But for the millionth download? Almost zero additional time or cost! Your app works for you 24/7.
  - Similarly, a YouTuber (using media leverage) spends a week making a video. It can be viewed by a million people without requiring additional work for viewer #1,000,000.
Critically, this new leverage is "Permissionless." You need no one's approval to start a blog, record a podcast, or learn to code. The entry barrier is remarkably low, while the ceiling is incredibly high.

Combining Them: "The Path to Wealth"

Putting both parts together reveals the complete picture:

You discover an area you're truly obsessed with (e.g., personal finance).
You start creating media (new leverage) around this passion—writing straightforward articles or making short videos sharing your insights. Because you genuinely care, your content is high-quality and authentic, gradually attracting an audience.
While you eat or sleep, your articles and videos are read or watched by thousands. Your influence is magnified immensely by the leverage.
This influence eventually converts into wealth—perhaps through paid courses, advertising, consulting, etc.

This is the path to wealth:
([The Thing] You'd Gladly Do Like Play) x (A Leverage That Scales Infinitely) = Wealth

This fundamentally breaks the "selling hours for dollars" employment model. Doctors or lawyers earn well, but they mainly "sell time." Stop working, and the income stops.

A successful app developer or influential creator, however, builds a "product" that operates independently of their time, generating continuous value.

So Naval's path to wealth essentially is: Find your unique passion, then use our era's most powerful tools (code and media) to amplify it globally, decoupling your output from your time. This is the fundamental shift from "earning money through hard work" to "letting wealth flow to you naturally."